SOUTHAMPTON, U.K. -- TANDBERG Television (OSE:TAT) today moved its IP strategy forward with the NAB launch of a complete IP-based system designed to change the face of IP video head-ends in both contribution and distribution networks and in large and small scale DTH cable, satellite, terrestrial and telco platforms. The iSIS 8000 IP system includes best-in-class MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and SMPTE VC-1 video encoding and transcoding, IP multiplexing and new receiver/decoders, all based on over five years of IP development at TANDBERG Television, and brought together under a single control and management system, nCompass.

"IP is the great leveller in the digital video market. The future of IP is secure as the operational and cost efficiencies it provides bring enormous benefits to all operators. At NAB we will launch our new IP head-end system combining new products into a complete solution. The new iSIS 8000 combines best-in-class TANDBERG Television technologies with SkyStream award-winning IP products to offer operators a very broad range of options, whatever the size, scale or application of their network," says Roger Bolton, VP of Business Development at TANDBERG Television.

At the heart of the iSIS 8000 system is TANDBERG Television's extensive capability in video processing and multiplexing, now further expanded with the addition of the SkyStream xPlex range. New at NAB will be the TANDBERG MX8400 IP Multiplexer, a next generation product designed for central head-end applications including primary multiplexing for large DTH satellite, cable and terrestrial and contribution and distribution systems. This open standards, IP based product enables the simplification of systems and with support for up to 4 independent multiplexed outputs from a single unit, eases future expansion and delivers significant reduction in infrastructure costs. Moreover, the combination of Reflex(TM) statistical multiplexing and advanced multiplexing architectures ensures maximum usage of available bit-rate. TANDBERG Television has always led the market in terms of conditional access integration and has continued this with the iSIS 8000, including a number of DVB Simulcrypt integrations that are available at launch.

For large head-end and central office video processing, and local channel insertion and public, education and government (PEG) channel encoding, TANDBERG Television has integrated the SkyStream MediaPlex / iPlex into the iSIS 8000 system. The MediaPlex and iPlex are flexible switched digital video processing platforms capable of MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC SD Encoding, MPEG-2 SD Transrating, MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 AVC Transcoding, multiplexing, de-multiplexing, routing and streaming. With their capability of simultaneous outputs over ATM, IP and ASI transport streams, the NEBS-compliant ultra-compact iPlex and high-density MediaPlex are the ultimate chassis-based solutions for hybrid transmission networks, such as dual cable and IPTV delivery to the home.

Both the TANDBERG MX8400 and the xPLEX head-ends will be fully integrated with the latest version of TANDBERG Television's industry leading nCompass management applications, which combine ease of use with advanced control and management. NAB will see a new version of TANDBERG nCompass Control, v5.0, providing redundancy protection for the MX8400 and the xPLEX in both 1+1 and N+M multiplexer configurations. TANDBERG nCompass Control is ideally suited to controlling and monitoring satellite, cable and terrestrial super head-ends, especially where n+m multiplexing is required to save costs. Powerful re-multiplexing capabilities make it perfect for digital turnaround applications. Cost-effective control of standalone devices through intelligent web pages is available for the simpler regional head-end.

Tandberg Television